I Know That You Wouldn't Fall for That

The afternoon was slowly panning out to be that of perfection. It was Warped tour day off, and Alex had all the time in the world to spend with Tay. Luckily for him, she had wanted to spend it with him too. They spent the afternoon talking, mostly about Tay's happy childhood memories, and Alex had been so interested by her stories.
"Sorry, am I blabbing?" She'd said, and Alex had smiled outwardly to her obliviousness to his interest. He'd shaken his head, she'd carried on blabbing and he'd smiled for the rest of the day.
Alex found himself being completely drawn by her stories. He found it interesting to know what it was like to have a carefree childhood, and Tay had exactly that. She'd grown up surrounded by music, and had always dreamed of becoming a singer. Her band wasn't hugely popular, unlike Alex's, but he couldn't deny she had the god-sent voice of an angel. She was too shy to sing to him when he asked, so he sneakily hid backstage during their set and listened to her sing infront of the small crowd of people. He was mesmerized by her vocal range and then and there he swore to himself that he'd try and help her get a bigger fan-base.

The bad thing about being on Warped tour was all the location changes. Alex left the bus early each morning to stalk the grounds of the new site and try and find as many secret hiding spots for him and Tay to hang out as he could. He'd then text Tay where to meet him and they'd spend the day together until they had to play a set, where they'd emerge back out into public and go about their daily lives of pretending to hate each other. They had everyone fooled.
Neither Tay nor Alex's friends knew about their sneaking around. Tay preferred to avoid the interrogation and the pressure on Alex to impress her friends, and Alex didn't want to deal with Jack's comments every time he saw them together. Frankly, neither of them wanted to deal with the relationship labelling that would come with their friends gaining the knowledge, therefore avoiding the conversation seemed like a necessity.
The weather was scorching, and Alex and Tay had been lying under an old oak tree behind the deserted Warped location all day. Alex loved days off, because most of the time all the bands left to do fun activities like paint-balling, but both Alex and Tay pulled a sickie and hid away somewhere to talk. They'd known each other for just over a week now, and Alex was surprised by how comfortable he felt around her. Tay was slowly melting his facade, and he didn't have to pretend to be a jerk around her. He liked the fact that he could be half-honest with himself around her, and he knew that she liked that too. He smiled to himself.
Tay's head was on his lap, her eyes closed, arms outstretched. She was wearing nothing but a bikini top and hot pants, bronzing herself under the sun. She breathed slowly, totally relaxed. Alex had to try really hard to divert his eyes away from her and not stare as she lost herself in own peace of mind.
"So you can like... charm any girl you want?" Tay said, blinking her eyes open and smiling cheekily. Alex was shocked by her question and gazed down at her. He shrugged, then winked seductively.
"It's all about technique," he murmered, in his sexiest, most alluring voice. Tay tried hard not to make her arousal obvious. "You've got to know your way around a woman's emotions. If you talk and treat her with respect, she'll be begging you to do the dirty in no time."
"You're vulgar," Tay said, laughing out loud, cutting it short to frown at herself. "... or at least you pretend to be."
Alex's brows furrowed together in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"What you just said... That's not you."
"How do you know?" A smirk played the corner of Alex's lips. Tay had to fight the urge to kiss him. She couldn't help her natural instincts. She was a fool for the master flirt.
Tay lifted her head off his lap and turned to face him, crossing her legs. Alex reflected her actions.
"Well, I don't know. You're different than that. I can tell you're just pretending around all those girls, and that you don't really want to sleep with them."
Alex pondered the thought for a moment, then bit down on the inside of his cheek. She was right, he knew that much, but it scared him how easily she could see into him. For a second, he wondered if she could read his mind, then he grinned at the ridiculousness of the thought.
"How do you know I'm not pretending around you?" he said. Tay's smile suddenly dropped and she immediately began searching his eyes for an answer to his question. He smirked and she relaxed, realising he was joking.
"I just know. You're real around me. I just always wondered why though, why do you work so hard at pretending to be someone you're not?"
"To fit in." Alex answered, without even thinking about the answer. He'd ran this question through his mind so many times he knew the outcome off by heart. "I just want people to like me and not see me as an outsider. I've been there and it's not a nice feeling."
"Your past doesn't seem like a very nice place to be..." Tay muttered under her breath. She hoped Alex didn't hear, but he did.
"It wasn't." He whispered. His mind wandered and he found himself blabbing without even realising what he was doing. Tay listened intently. "I was a very sad person back then. People hated me and I hated myself. I wanted to be someone else completely. Part of me still does want to be someone else. I can't help but hate the way I am, and I've never felt any different. I've never felt positive about myself and people caught onto it and used it to taunt me. So I worked on getting better at hiding the loathing I felt towards myself. People bullied me and I used to lie in bed at night wishing they were all dead. I wished I were dead. That was unti-" Alex stopped bone in his tread. Tay cursed internally as she realised that was all she was going to get. Though part of her heart reached for him as she realised he was slowly opening up to her. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." she whispered back. "I just want to know you."
Alex forced a fake-laugh. Tay cringed at the bitter tone.
"You don't want to know me, you think you want to know me. If you really did know me you'd run so far away I wouldn't even have chance to say goodbye."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"You say that now."
"I mean it, Alex."
It was silent for a while, then Alex looked up, his eyes smiling at her.
"I've never told anybody that before," he whispered. "not anybody. I don't know what it is with you, Tay, but I find it really easy to open up to you."
Tay couldn't help but laugh. Alex grinned at her reaction.
"You've hardly let up anything!"
"I know," he reasoned. "but I'm trying... And that's a lot for me."
Tay smiled and reached out for his hand. He took it and squeezed her palm and she smiled, looking down towards the ground shyly. Alex grinned. Cute. He threaded his fingers with hers and used his other arm to pull her down so she was lying on his lap again. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose. Alex closed his eyes too and smiled as he focussed on the gentle contact of skin as he used his thumb to slowly brush across her hand. Tay tightened her grip around his palm.
"Everyone thinks I'm crazy." he whispered, somehow feeling obliged to open up to her. He was suprised by how easy it was to talk to her. Tay opened her eyes and let go of his hand. She looked at him for a moment, examining his state of mind, before sitting up and crawling infront of him till she was between his legs. Alex raised an eyebrow in confusion but parted his legs anyway to form a space for her. She turned so she had her back to him, before sitting between his legs and leaning back so her back was curled into his chest. She let her head fall back onto his shoulder and Alex, slightly dazed by her sudden progression, warily wrapped his arms around her bare stomach. Tay grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his again. Alex could feel her heartbeat through her spine and slowly felt himself relax under her touch.
"I don't think you are." she whispered, closing her eyes again. Alex sighed.
"My friends can't figure me out," he whispered, sarcastically laughing. "My family couldn't. My shrink didn't have a fucking clue..." It was silent as he waited for a reaction. Tay didn't move, she just listened. "I don't even think I can figure me out."
Alex watched as Tay smiled, her face relaxed and peaceful. He was so stunned by how none of this phased her. After she didn't respond, Alex assumed she'd fallen asleep, but then she opened her eyes and looked down at their intertwined hands, playing with his fingers.
"I think I can figure you out." She whispered, smiling to herself. Alex couldn't help but laugh at her confidence. He buried his nose into her hair and flicked his thumb across her palm. He inhaled her scent deeply.
"I think you can too." He whispered, leaning back into the tree he was lying against. Tay leaned back into him, and they both closed their eyes.
"Just so you know," Tay murmured as the world started to fall apart under her sleepy lids, "I like you when you're not pretending."
Alex smiled and kissed the top of her head gently. Tay fell asleep first, and Alex listened to her gentle breathing as she slept, before he himself fell into the first pleasant, non-medicated sleep he'd had in an extremely long time.